Tales from the Infinite Playlist AU
by UhhICanExplain
Summary: Those wild nights are the one's we'll always remember. But all comes to pass, and life goes on. Series of one-shots in the Infinite Playlist Universe. [Indefinite Hiatus]
1. In Which Ren & Nora Talk About Life

**This series was not supposed to come out until at least the end of Blake and Jaune's Infinite Playlist, but with the recent news concerning Monty Oum's hospitalization, this particular piece seemed appropriate to release as a tribute for him.**

**This is for Monty. Get well soon, my friend.**

**EDIT: The late, the great Monty Oum has passed. We will always remember you. Thank you... for everything.**

* * *

**In Which Ren and Nora Talk About Life, the Universe, and Everything**

* * *

Some nights, when he wasn't out jamming with the band or playing a show, Ren could be found in the comforts of his own apartment, brewing a homemade pot of tea (today's blend consisted of green tea, mint, and rosemary) and just enjoying the soothing sense of peace and quiet that came with those pleasant aromas.

Today was one of those nights. In fact, it was quieter still; from Ren's vantage point in the tiny kitchen, he watched with a smile as his girlfriend laid comfortably on his living room couch, wrapped in a blanket and enjoying ravenously the novel in her lap.

Not many people realized that the relentlessly energetic Nora was absolutely enthralled by books. This fact was quite frequently used by Ren to achieve very sly means; whenever Ren decided that he had had enough of Nora's antics for a while, he would buy her a book.

That seemed to do the trick, often enough.

Of course, with a phrase like "often enough," it was a fair assumption to make that Nora's book collection grew rather rapidly. Nora was a voracious reader, much to the vexation of Ren – and his wallet. Indeed, Nora probably had enough books to begin the reconstruction of the Library of Alexandria, if she so pleased (although Ren suspected that with a librarian of Nora's overbearing exuberance, the library would probably burn right back down the instant that he blinked).

_One can only dream,_ he thought contentedly to himself as he went to pour himself and Nora a cup of the freshly finished tea.

Across the room, Nora closed the book in her lap softly and lifted her head to look at Ren, an uncharacteristically pensive expression on her face. "Hey Ren?"

"Yes Nora?" Ren carried the two cups from the kitchen to the sofa where Nora resided and handed her one, which she graciously accepted.

Nora sipped the tea lightly, wary of burning her tongue. "What's the meaning of life, you think?"

"42," deadpanned Ren.

"Uh… what?"

"Sorry." With a chuckle, he placed his tea on the nearby coffee table. "The meaning of life… why do you ask?"

Nora made room for Ren to sit. "I guess it's just the stuff I've been reading recently."

"What _are_ you reading, anyway?"

"Uh…" Nora glanced at the cover briefly. "Vonnegut."

"Ah," Ren nodded thoughtfully. "That'll do that to you."

Nora giggled. "But seriously, do you ever think about that sometimes? I mean, here we are, playing shows every Saturday night, working other jobs, eating pancakes everyday-"

"Maybe not so much that last one," interjected Ren.

"- and then we sleep, wake up, and repeat. But life, as quiet as it is, is going on around us every second of everyday, wherever we look. So do we have some great purpose in life, and are we doing it right now? Or is there no objective purpose and life just floats on like it does?"

Ren blinked. "Who are you and what did you do with Nora?"

Nora softly whacked his head with book in her lap. "Hey, I can be smart, too, sometimes. Especially dating you. Your smarts rub off on me, y'know."

"And yet you don't see me bouncing off the walls. I wonder why," teased Ren, which received another playful whack to the head.

"You ass," Nora grumbled. "I don't know. _Do_ you think about this stuff? I feel like you must have. People who are quiet on the outside usually aren't so quiet on the inside, Ren."

Ren smiled at that. Another thing people usually didn't know about Nora was that she was very attentive. If anything, he definitely learned more about himself when he was around his girlfriend.

"I do," he replied, before reaching for his own tea from the table and taking a sip.

"So… what do you make of it, then?" Nora prodded.

Ren wrapped his arms around the ginger. "Well… I guess the best answer I can give you is that I don't know. And maybe that's the point."

Nora frowned. "What does _that_ mean?"

"Think of it like this: if you spend all your life trying to find the meaning, or maybe the answer, to it all, then what happens if you actually… get it? Then what? Do you just keep living life with that answer in mind? What if you don't _like_ that answer? Then what becomes of what you've already done, and what becomes of what you _will_ do? And, I guess more importantly, what will the human race do once we know the meaning of life? Is that the end? Do we just go home?"

"That can't be right?" Nora pondered from the comfort of Ren's arms. "I feel like everyone's purpose in life would at least be different enough to suit every single person. Right?"

"Exactly." Ren beamed at her. "The problem is that people keep searching for this overarching balloon definition of the meaning of life. I think if there happens to be one, it's big enough that we're not meant to find it."

Nora's brow furrowed further. "That _definitely_ doesn't make sense. How can it be so big that you can't see it? You'd have to be able to see _something_, right?"

"Sure, you'd see something, but you'd never be able to see all of it. It's like being in a forest," explained Ren patiently. "When you're in front of the tree and you're looking at the tree, you can't really see the whole forest, so how do you know what the forest looks like just by seeing that one tree? The universe is so big, and we're so small; so how can we ever see the whole meaning of life when we're just little, tiny scraps of life ourselves? It's such a broad concept that I think if there was an overall meaning to life, it's just not meant for us to see."

Nora pondered this for some time.

Then she peered up at Ren. "Then what's yours?"

"Pardon?"

Nora shrugged. "You said that we can't know for sure what the whole meaning of life is. But do you feel like there's a specific purpose to maybe _your_ life?"

"Hmmm…" Ren went silent for a moment. "Well, it's still a pretty big thing in and of itself, and still hard to figure out. How long does it take before I find out? Does it change constantly based on who I become? Or maybe it's like and endgame, where you figure out what your life amounted to right before you pass on."

He leaned back against the couch and felt Nora move with him. "It's kind of funny. It's a huge question to ask anyone, to just walk up to someone and say, 'Do you have your life figured out?' And most people would love to tell you yes, but the truth is usually 'hell no,' and those who say otherwise are probably wrong."

Ren shifted. "I mean, not to say that they don't know what they want to do in life, but I think as long as you live, you'll always have questions about life. I'd wager to say that the more answers you get, the more questions come about. Kind of like the forest analogy. Once you figure that the tree's in a forest, you try to find the forest, and after all this hard work, you find the forest… then what? What's outside of that forest? And then what's outside of that?"

Pausing to sip on his tea momentarily, he continued. "And yet it's like we're all driven to find out the meaning to our lives. Why do you think that is? That we put that much pressure on people when it's clearly such an impossible thing to achieve?" Ren wondered aloud.

Nora looked at him intently. "Maybe it's just in our nature?" she offered.

"Maybe…" Ren mused, nodding ever so slightly. "I used to chase after that truth pretty relentlessly. I'd question whether there was any meaning to my life or if I was just some insignificant speck of dust that the universe shrugged at. And then sometimes I thought I'd found it. I thought I'd found what the purpose in my life was."

Nora snuggled closer. "And then?"

"And then, every time I thought I had it, I found out how wrong I was, or how my supposed answer didn't hold up all the time. After a while, I just stopped looking altogether. I figure, the chances of me finding my significance in the whole scheme of things are so remote, I might as well just… do what feels right. Maybe I didn't need the truth; I might have found the forest, but that tree was what I've always known and loved, so I went back to it. People who just keep searching for an answer never seem happy with what they get, and honestly, I'd much rather be happy than right any day. Life's too short to worry about being right."

Ren watched from over Nora's shoulder as her fingers lightly traced the edge of her tea mug. "So, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Y'know… happy?"

Ren lightly kissed the top of Nora's orange head of hair, which made her snuggled deeper upon Ren's chest. "Yeah. I think so."

They held each other for the rest of the night, contentedly in each other's arms.

Those out and about that night would probably have called their method of spending the evening boring, and the severely jaded might even excuse themselves from whatever excursion they were partaking in to use the bathroom in order to throw up kittens at the mere thought of such blissful intimacy.

But for Ren and Nora, it was all they needed.


	2. In Which Blake & Jaune Shop for Records

**Greetings, fellow RWBY lovers!**

**Told you this universe wasn't dying yet. This kicks off the actual Infinite Playlist shorts, with an included playlist from me at the end of each chapter. I aiming for five parts, spread out over the course of however long.**

**In the meantime, there will definitely be more shorts from this AU coming soon! Prepare for all the feel-goods.**

**Beta: Maxaro. He keeps trying to add Nightwish in this short, but the two aren't particularly metal fans. However, if you can make a case for it with the right characters, I'll consider writing a metal-themed short!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**In Which Blake and Jaune Go to the Record Store**

* * *

"So, that's about it!" Yang brushed her hands together in triumph.

"True that." Blake nodded.

The two of them admired their newly furnished apartment. They had recently decided to move into a more open, four-bedroom apartment, with Yang and Blake occupying their own rooms each, Yang's sister Ruby occupying a room to herself, and the last room remaining empty, at least for the time being.

"I'm glad we decided to do this," sighed Blake contentedly. "Rent won't be so rough from now on."

"That's certainly a relief," Yang grinned and flopped upon the brand new cotton sofa. "Oh my, this feels heavenly…"

Blake smirked. "Of course it does. That _is_ why we bought it. What would be the sense in buying a shitty sofa?"

"Okay, okay, no need to get mean, kitty-cat," Yang rolled her eyes.

Then she smiled slyly. "Why don't you come join me? This couch is big enough for two, y'know."

Laughing, Blake shook her head. "Nope."

Yang winked. "If you're that worried, Ruby's in class right now, so you don't have to worry about her walking in on us spooning together."

Blake gave her a strange look. "How did 'getting on the couch together' escalate to 'spooning' that quickly?"

"I'll let you be big spoon."

"Haha. Nope."

"Aww, you're no fun," pouted the blonde.

"Well, I'll have you know that I'm happily taken."

Yang snickered. "You sure are. You should see the big dopey grin you get when you say that."

Blake's face flushed red and she smacked a hand to her mouth. "Hush, you. Don't you have a boyfriend, too?"

"Yeah, but we're the kind of couple that just does stuff together and hang out with friends and have hot and sweaty sex and –"

"First of all, I did _not_ need to hear that," grimaced Blake, trying to shake the image out of her head, as well as the creeping thought of a certain unfulfilled threat that may or may not involve castration. "Second of all, what kind of couple does that make me and Jaune?"

Yang made the motion of pretending to vomit by sticking her finger in her open mouth. "You two are the lovey-dovey movie couple that makes everyone within a five-mile radius instantly vomit because you're so damn cute." She groaned. "I swear I've totally watched a movie like this before called Infinite Playlist or something…"

Blake suddenly felt the urge to sneeze and brought a hand to her nose to stifle it.

Yang leaned back in the sofa with a contented sigh. "In all seriousness, you should take a nap on this couch sometime. It's so damn comfy…"

"I'll keep that in mind," chuckled Blake.

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Reaching down to pull it out, she realized that Jaune had texted her.

_Im at your apartment. Waiting for you 3_

Blake smiled.

"Ah-hah!" Yang pointed at the faunus girl's face. "It's that fucking smile again! Did loverboy call?"

"Let's just say I'm going on a date," smirked Blake.

"So you're just gonna leave your best friend here at the apartment all by herself…" The blonde sank even deeper into the couch, eyes fluttering. "Y'know, maybe that's not _such_ a bad idea…"

Blake chuckled amusedly at her friend as she began to drift into sleep land before grabbing a wide-brimmed bowler hat for her ears and heading out the apartment door. "See you later, Yang."

"Go have fun, kids," murmured the already half-asleep Yang. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do…"

"I'll try my best."

* * *

"Hey, you."

Jaune looked up from his phone and turned to the passenger window to see Blake leaned over and smiling at him from the other side of the door.

He felt his own smile sneaking up his face. "Hey, lovely. The door's unlocked."

"Right. I knew that." With a chuckle, Blake opened the door and climbed in.

"Nice hat," noted Jaune, raising an eyebrow. "Too bad it hides up those cute ears under there"

Blake blushed as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Hey, those are for your eyes only."

"Well, don't I feel special…" the blonde murmured, winking at the faunus girl.

She rolled her eyes. "So where are we going today?"

Jaune smiled. "It's a little place that Ren, Nora, and I frequent all the time, actually. I think you're gonna have an absolute field day at this place."

Blake huffed. "That doesn't explain anything."

"Oh, I know."

"Oh my God…" Blake groaned, albeit with a smile. "You're the worst."

Jaune laughed as he pulled away from the curb. "But you love it."

The faunus girl smirked and shook her head. "Yeah… maybe a little bit. But you're still the worst… in the best possible way."

"I think I can live with that," Jaune hummed contentedly.

* * *

Jaune opened the door to the store, allowing a wide-eyed Blake to enter.

"Welcome to Grim Eclipse Records. What do you think?" Jaune grinned at her.

It wasn't an enormous building, by any means, but the way it was jam-packed with records, CDs, and a multitude of other musical equipment along every inch of wall and shelf made the store seem much bigger than it actually was. The colors of the records all lined together almost gave off the aesthetic of a modern art gallery as opposed to a dusty old record store, and tunes wafted lazily in the background from every section of musical genres, beckoning the pair to browse its wares.

Blake inhaled, taking in all the sights and the sounds.

"I… Jaune, this place is like a goddamn candy shop," she breathed. "How have I never found out about this big of a record store?"

"Beats me," chuckled Jaune. "But the look on your face is almost worth it."

"For you, maybe…" Blake murmured, then she looked at Jaune questioningly.

Jaune smiled. "Go fucking wild."

That was all the cue she needed.

Jaune blinked as he stared at the trail of smoke that resided where Blake had been standing just mere seconds ago.

With a grin in his face, he set off in the general direction of the smoke, albeit at a much slower pace.

* * *

"Well… there goes my paycheck for this week…"

Blake laughed at Jaune's offhand comment and glanced at his pile of records, then at her own slightly bigger stack. "Tell me about it. I'm going to have to work overtime for all this."

They paid for their records, and walked over to the coffee shop next door. Jaune ordered a honey green tea, Blake a latte macchiato, and they went to sit at one of the tables outside to enjoy their drinks and discuss their recent purchases.

"So what did you end up getting?" inquired Jaune curiously. "You bought even more stuff than I did."

Blake's eyes lit up excitedly, and she pulled out the records. "Well, for starters, the new Ensign-J record, of course. It's called "Jaeger" and I'm really excited to play this one when I get back."

"But of course," chimed Jaune, sipping his tea delicately and trying not to burn his tongue on the first go around.

"On top of that, I got one from Ice Cream Mad Dash, Dead Draw Domination (a personal favorite of mine), Nox, Charon, Millimetre (quite frankly synthpop paradise), Mother of Invention, and Summer's Soul…" Blake sighed in sudden defeat. "My wallet is crying so hard right now, and I think Yang might actually give me an earful after she realizes how much cash I dropped on these."

"Didn't you two and Ruby just move in together?" smirked Jaune.

"Yup."

"Well, I think it won't be _that much_ money after all the money you guys spent purchasing and refurnishing that apartment."

"Huh…" murmured Blake. "I didn't think of it like that."

"Hey, everyone spends a couple hundred lien every now and again," assured Jaune. "I _do_ have to say, you look really cute when you get excited about stuff," he added, chuckling.

Blake rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. "Hush, you. Now tell me, what did _you_ get?"

"Let's see!" Jaune pulled out his own records and set them on the table. "I've got one by Meteoroid-G, Atlesian Husky Dogsled Team, The Everyman Band, Well-By/Me2 (never really understood that name choice, to be honest), and an old Conquest album."

Blake's brow furrowed. "Conquest? That's straight up punk rock, I think."

"Yup. I used to listen to them a lot more back when Nora introduced me to them a long, long time ago." Jaune leaned back in his seat. "It's that old noisy punk rock, too. None of that pop-punk bullshit."

"Pop-punk isn't all _that _bad," laughed the faunus girl.

"It's repetitive, is what it is," Jaune countered.

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat," smirked Blake, looking through her boyfriend's purchases. "I think there's a distinct difference between our tastes here."

"What's that?"

"Well, I tend to go for the more synthpop-type stuff, while you're more of the indie rock kind of person," Blake mused.

Jaune nodded thoughtfully. "Millimetre and Mother of Invention are pretty synth-heavy, and Dead Draw Domination is straight up EDM with vocals on it. But isn't Summer's Soul folk?"

"Yeah," Blake sighed. "I love folk. It's so nice and calming to listen to."

"It really is… The Everyman Band is kinda folkish, but I've got so much great folk stuff back at my place."

"Remind me to dig more through your collection the next time I'm over," Blake smiled. "I seriously cannot get enough of all that music."

"Makes sense," said Jaune with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Didn't you use to dig for my mixtapes in the trash?"

Blake, who had been serenely sipping her coffee, did an actual spit take. "_What!?_ Did Yang tell you that?"

"Maybe…" The blonde chuckled.

"Ugh… I am going to murder her…"

"At least that offsets you buying all these records."

"True," Blake shrugged. "By the way, I haven't thanked you for taking me to that store yet, thanks a lot. I had an absolute field day."

Jaune smirked. "Don't thank me now. Our little date doesn't have to be over yet!"

"Oh dear," crooned Blake slyly. "What else could you possibly have planned for the rest of the day?"

"Ah, see, that's where we have an impasse…" Jaune grinned nervously. "I don't actually have any… plans…"

Blake giggled. "Of course not. Well, I think I have an idea."

"Oh? What, pray tell?" Jaune raised an eyebrow, emphatically resting his elbows on the table and placing his head in the palms of his hands.

"Okay, don't over-hype it," Blake rolled her eyes once more. "I was thinking… with our combined musical prowess… y'know, your pretty great taste in music, and my absolutely phenomenal taste…"

"Please, don't sell yourself short here," Jaune snarked.

"Ahem… _my absolutely phenomenal taste_," Blake smirked teasingly. "I think it would be in the world's best interests if we made a playlist of pure… awesomeness."

Jaune chuckled. "'Awesomeness?' That sounds like a very Yang thing to say."

"I know," Blake mock-cried. "I couldn't think of a better word."

"I know the feeling." Jaune sipped his tea. "So, we make a playlist?"

"Yup. I say we call it…" The faunus girl waved an arm in majestically. "… Blake and Jaune's Infinite Playlist."

The blonde frowned. "Wait… we're not ripping off anything, are we? I swear I've seen a movie with a similar name…"

Blake's brow furrowed pensively for a moment, but she waved him off. "Nah."

"Huh…" Jaune shrugged. "Fine by me. I kinda like it."

"Yussssss," Blake pumped her fist. "I'm thinking we can start with these records and then move onto our collections. Shall we be off, then?"

"Sure!" Jaune said happily, finishing the last of his drink. "Let's rock and roll."

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaame," Blake laughed, and they set off to Jaune's place.

* * *

_**Blake and Jaune's Infinite Playlist, Part 1**_

_**1\. Young Journey – Moon Taxi**_

_**2\. Sober – Childish Gambino**_

_**3\. Safe and Sound – Capital Cities**_

_**4\. Hang Me Up to Dry – Cold War Kids**_

_**5\. Trojans – Atlas Genius**_

_**6\. Chocolate – The 1975**_

_**7\. The Girl – City and Colour**_

_**8\. Lisztomania – Phoenix**_

_**9\. Blood I Bled – The Staves**_

_**10\. Tightrope – Walk the Moon**_

_**11\. Little Black Submarines – The Black Keys**_

_**12\. Autumn Tree – Milo Greene**_

_**13\. Everything is Alright – Motion City Soundtrack**_

_**14\. Move On – Garden City Movement**_

_**15\. Walking on a Dream – Empire of the Sun**_

_**16\. Michicant – Bon Iver**_

_**17\. This Modern Love – Bloc Party**_

_**18\. Animal – Neon Trees**_

_**19\. Jealous (I Ain't With It) – Chromeo**_

_**20\. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + the Machine**_

* * *

**Easter eggs galore! Also, the playlist above may provide an insight to the huge music nerd that I am.**

**I'm actually open to (EDIT: _indie/folk/other obscure shit_) music suggestions to add in later lists, now that I think about it.**

**For the record, Conquest sounds a bit like Japandroids, in my mind, while Dead Draw Domination is kinda like Gemini Club. Millimetre and Mother of Invention sound like Sylvan Esso and CHVRCHES, respectively, and Summer's Soul is like old Bon Iver.**

**The Everyman Band is The Layman's addition to the Music AU, and according to him, they sound like Avicii, but way more heavy on the folk part as opposed to the EDM part. You can expect to see them in other installments of Tales (thank, Layman!).**

**Reviews, as always, are welcome. Hell, requests are welcome, too!**

**Until next time, my lovely people!**


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